Railroad-tie.



F. S. CALDWELL.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1912.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

INVENTOR FIR-ED SEYMOUR CALDWELL, OF OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA.

RAILROAD-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

Application filed January 22, 1912. Serial N 0. 672,770.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED SEYMOUR CALD- WELL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Oklahoma city, in the county of Oklahoma and State of Oklahoma, have invented a new and useful Railroad-Tie, of which the following is a specificaton.

My invention consists primarily in an improved railroad tie, in which a wooden core is incased in sheet asphalt and is fitted with cup-shaped metal rail-plates and equipped with metal rail-clamps, affixed and held in place by metal lag-screws; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to preserve the wooden core of the tie from decay; second, to provide a tie permanent in its durability and still possessing the elasticity of the ordinary 'wooden tie third, to prevent the spreading of'rails and accidents resulting therefrom; fourth, to prevent the breakingof rails and accidents resulting therefrom; fifth, to prevent surface water from percolating between and under the ties and softening the roaclbed.

I attain these objects by the construction and combination of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of three ties in place in roadloed; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line a b in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the track on the line 0' d in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of a rail-plate; Fig. 5 is a section of a rail-plate on the line 6 f in Fig. 4:; Fig. 6 is a cross-section of a rail-plate on the line 9 h in Fig. '4; Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a rail in place on four ties.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

O (Figs. 2 and 3) is a wooden core of the tie; A (Figs. 2 and 3) is a casing of sheet asphalt prepared of liquid asphalt mixed with sand in the manner and with the method ordinarily employed to produce the best grade of asphalt pavement, which said casing of sheet asphalt entirely surrounds the wooden core and is aifixed and made to adhere thereto firmly by means of hydraulic pressure.

a (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) is a railplate; 8 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7 is a lag-screw; 50 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7) is a rail-clamp; N (Figs. 1, 3 and 7) is a shoulder upon which thg ties articulate when in place in the roadbe i i The improved ties, adjoining each other as shown in Figs. 1 and 7, form apracticallv impervious covering of the subjacent ground and camping material, and thus keep the same from being washed out from beneath the ties. They also afford mutual support to each other; while, the ties as a series, by articulating at the shoulders N as aforesaid, accommodate themselves readily to both vertical and horizontal curves.

The rail plates (0 are constructed with vertically depending rim flanges' and also -with like flanges on all sides of their slots as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and are thus adapted to cut into and penetrate the sheet asphalt A at the top of each tie, so as to rest solidly on the wooden core O, which is a feature of great practical importance. Otherwise the unequal softening of the sheet asphalt by sunshine would cause the rail plates and therewith therails to settle unevenly under the weight of the rails and trains.

The slots of the rail plates at are transverse with reference to the rails, and accommodate the customary feet of the clamps w and lag screw 8; the latter being readily driven through the sheet asphalt A into the wooden core C, so as to hold securely in the latter.

Having thus described said improvement I claim as my invention, and desire to patent under this specification:

1. An improved composite railroad tie having a wooden core and a casing of sheet asphalt inclosing said core and affixed thereto, in combination with slotted rail plates each constructed with vertically depending flanges adapted to penetrate the top of said sheet asphalt casing and rest solidly upon said wooden core, rail clamps superposed upon said rail plates, and lag screws 00- operating with said clamps and extending through the slots of said rail plates and through the top of said sheet asphalt casing into said wooden'core.

2. The combination, with the rails of a railroad, of a cross tie composed of a core of wood and a casing of sheet asphalt inclosing said core, superposed rail plates each constructed with vertically depending flanges adapted to penetrate the top of said sheet asphalt casing and to rest solidly upon said wooden core, and means for securing the rails upon said rail plates including fastenings driven through said top of the sheet-asphalt casing into the wooden core of the tie.

3. The combination, with the rails of a railroad track, of composite cross ties laid in close contact with each other, each hav ing a core of wood and a casing of sheet as-' phalt, rail plates interposed between the rails and each tie and each constructed with vertically depending flanges adapted to penetrate the top of said sheet-asphalt casing and to rest solidly upon said wooden core .of each tie, and rail fastening means adapted to be driven through said top of the sheet-asphalt casing into the wooden core.

of each tie.

phalt, and each constructed with articulating shoulders extending along its vertical longitudinal. sides, crosswise of the track, said shoulders of adjoining ties being in mutually supporting contact with each other, rail plates interposed between the rails and each tie and each constructed with vertically depending flanges adapted to penetrate the top of said sheet-asphalt casing and to rest solidly upon said wooden core of each tie, and rail fastening'means adapted to be driven throughsaid top of the sheet-asphalt casing into the wooden core of each tie, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

FRED SEYMOUR CALDWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 'D. G. 

